8.  In 1951 an American air base was established on the Dundas peninsula in the Thule District of north-west Greenland. With the establishment of an anti-aircraft artillery unit in 1953 the air base area was expanded. It was reduced in size in the mid-1980s and in 2003.
9.  The applicants were members of Greenpeace. In the summer of 2001 they took part in an action around the Thule Air Base designed to draw international attention to the use of a radar (the Thule Radar) for the American missile defence programme and to collect information on the environmental impact of the presence of the air base on the Dundas peninsula.
10.  Before the action in question, on 25 July 2001, two Greenpeace members had had a meeting with the Chief of Police of Greenland, during which they had been informed of the legislation relating to Thule Air Base and the consequences of a possible refusal by the relevant authorities of permission to visit the air base area.
11.  On 27 July 2001 Greenpeace requested permission to visit “the Dundas peninsula around the Thule Air Base”. By fax of 30 July 2001 the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Greenpeace that Thule Air Base, including the Dundas area, was a “defence area”, and that civilians could gain access to this area only with permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the American authorities. By fax of 2 August 2001 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused Greenpeace permission to access the Dundas peninsula and Thule Air Base.
12.  On 6 August 2001 the applicants and other Greenpeace activists arrived off the coast of the Dundas peninsula by a vessel called the M/V Arctic Sunrise. Some of the activists went ashore at the beach of Dundas and put up a banner. They were ordered to leave the area immediately by the police. The applicants, using a rubber dinghy, landed at Savigssuaq, which is south of Thule Air Base. Thereafter they walked approximately 30 km northwards overland to Shelter 7, to the east of the base, where they were arrested on 7 August 2001 at 8 p.m. and charged with trespassing.
13.  Shelter 7 is one of several emergency shelters built along a road almost 18 km in length running from the built-up part of the base area to the Thule Radar. Emergency shelters have been built at intervals of 1-2 km along the road to ensure that base personnel are able to seek shelter in the event of sudden bad weather on their way out to the radar facility. Shelter 7 is 10.7 km from the built-up part of the Thule Air Base and 7.2 km from the Thule Radar.
14.  The exact size of the defence area was disputed between the parties. The Government maintained that the Thule Air Base comprised approximately four hundred square kilometres at the relevant time. After the events in question, on 20 February 2003, the area was reduced in size and the Dundas peninsula became a non-prohibited area to which all civilians could gain access without permission. The applicants submitted that the exact size of the defence area was confidential and thus unknown to the public.
15.  An official map called “Sheet no. 76.V.1, Dundas, scale 1:250:000” was produced by the Danish Geodetical Survey. The map bore the following indications: “Place names, centres of population and other details 1954”, “Corrections 1983” and “Printed by the Danish Geodetical Survey 1983”. The airfield was shown, but there was no indication of an air base. A similar map was reproduced photographically by Saga Maps.
16.  Based on the map by the Danish Geodetical Survey, another map was produced and published as an annex to a report published in December 1994 entitled “Report on the relocation of the Thule Tribe in 1953”. This map, (“the annex map”), had a bold line drawn on it which, according to the Government, demarcated the Thule Air Base, comprising a large area exceeding the area of the Dundas peninsula. The applicants disputed this assertion, pointing out that the origin of and reason for the line were unknown.
17.  In 2001 the Thule Air Base was not fenced off or marked with signs, save for some “No Entry” signs by the harbour and on the road leading from the airfield to the built-up part of the base.
18.  At the time of their arrest the applicants were in possession of a Global Positioning System (GPS device) and the official Saga map of the area, on which they had marked nine different positions. In a notebook found on one of the applicants the nine positions were listed with the corresponding degrees of latitude and longitude and the following descriptions: “initial landing” “radar (E)”, “radar (W)” and “airstrip”. The applicants were also carrying cameras and a camcorder. The police seized a film containing photos taken by the applicants during their walk. Some of the photos showed the applicants holding banners with the wording “Stop Star Wars” and “No to new arms race”, with some of the military facilities of the Thule Air Base pictured in the background.
19.  Material downloaded from the Greenpeace website at the relevant time contained various statements, including the following: “But still inside, two days into the Thule Peace Trek are three other activists, who have been walking and camping in Arctic conditions since Monday, and so far remain undetected” and an extract from a so-called action line recording by the activist saying “We are now on the second day of our walk ... it's been an intense couple of days, we've been blasted by the wind, gotten cold every time we stopped, forded deep icy cold rivers, walked across ice, but also had some real beauty...”.
20.  The applicants were released on 8 August 2001 at 6 p.m., after indictments of the same date had been served on them. The charges against them were detailed as follows:
 “Violation of Article 69a of the Penal Code and Article 132 § 2, taken together with [Article 132] § 1 and section 3(1)(d) of Executive Order no. 39 of 22 February 1967 on travel to and within Greenland (Bekendtgørelse om rejser til og i Grønland) (“the Travel Order”) in that, without permission having been granted to the environmental organisation Greenpeace, [the applicants], using a rubber dinghy from the vessel M/V Artic Sunrise, went ashore on 6 August 2001 in the area around (ved) Thule Air Base, where they took pictures with cameras and video cameras, and were found by the police at Shelter 7 on 7 August 2001 at around 6.30 p.m.”
21. By judgment of 11 September 2001 given in absentia, the applicants were convicted as charged by the High Court of Greenland (Grønlands Landsret). They were each sentenced to a fine of 5,000 Danish kroner (DKK) (approximately 670 euros (EUR)). In handing down the sentence, the court took into account the fact that, as Greenpeace activists, the applicants had participated in a carefully planned action. In addition, the notebook, the Saga map of the air base area, a video film and fifty‑one photos had been confiscated. The relevant parts of the High Court judgment stated:
“On the evidence, the court finds that [the applicants] carried out the acts described in the indictment. As [the applicants] did not obtain permission to enter the base area, as required by section 3(1)(d) of Executive Order no. 39 of 22 February 1967 on travel to and within Greenland, they have violated section 3 of the Order. As made clear by the explanatory notes to Article 132 of the Penal Code, the Travel Order has as its legal basis “established practice” within the meaning of Article 131 of the Penal Code.
...
In view of the location of the base and considering that the applicants, aiming for the base, had to walk several kilometres across rough terrain and that access to the base requires special permission under the Travel Order, the court finds that the base is a “place not freely accessible” for the purposes of Article 69a (i) of the Penal Code. Accordingly, and as their presence was unauthorised, as stated above, [the applicants] are found guilty of having violated Article 69a (i) of the Penal Code.”
22.  The applicants appealed to the High Court of Eastern Denmark (Østre Landsret) before which they argued, as they had done before the first‑instance court, that the act in question did not constitute a criminal offence.
23.  According to them, Executive Order no. 39 of 22 February 1967, relied on by the prosecution, did not have legal authority. Concerning Article 69a (i) of the Penal Code, they submitted that it could not be established whether or not they had trespassed, as the limits of the military area had never been officially defined. The applicants further maintained that lay judges should have participated in the proceedings before the first‑instance court. However, the latter complaint was later withdrawn.
24.  Before the High Court of Eastern Denmark the prosecution submitted the annex map in support of the charge that the applicants had entered a “place not freely accessible” within the meaning of Article 69a of the Penal Code.
25.  By judgment of 3 October 2002 the High Court of Eastern Denmark confirmed the first-instance court's judgment stating, inter alia:
“On the evidence produced before the High Court, [the applicants] are found guilty of a violation of section 3(1)(d) of Executive Order no. 39 of 22 February 1967 on the grounds stated in the judgment. As [the applicants] thus gained unauthorised access to a place not freely accessible, they have also violated Article 69a (i) of the Penal Code. In view of the nature of the area, this violation is not insignificant.”
26.  The applicants' request of 19 March 2003 for leave to appeal against the judgment to the Supreme Court was refused by the Leave‑to‑Appeal Board (Procesbevillingsnævnet) on 5 October 2004.